Celtic groups snub police

Leaders of two Celtic supporters groups have both snubbed the chance to meet with Assistant Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police, Campbell Corrigan, to discuss fans’ behaviour.

The Parkhead club are facing a UEFA charge relating to alleged “illicit chanting” from their fans during a Europa League game against Rennes and are also under investigation by the Scottish Premier League for alleged pro-IRA chants in a match against Hibs.

One fans’ group, The Green Brigade, refused earlier in the week to meet with Corrigan, who pleaded with supporters not to indulge in the chants, a plea reiterated by manager Neil Lennon.

Moves to bring resolution to the problem suffered another blow yesterday when the Celtic Supporters Trust and the Celtic Supporters Association also refused to meet Corrigan.

A CST statement read: “On Tuesday of this week we were advised that ACC Corrigan wished to have a meeting with all the supporters’ organisations. With the exception of the GB (Green Brigade), we agreed to the meeting. On Wednesday we were extremely disturbed to find that there was inflammatory and misleading coverage of the proposed meeting.

“It gave the impression that we were being summonsed to discuss bad behaviour by Celtic supporters, it attacked our colleagues, the Green Brigade and it appeared to focus on singing.”